HMS Ajax Cruiser 1st Commission

Cruiser - 1st Commission 
15 April 1935 at Portsmouth (sailed 11 June 1935) to August 1937 (arrived Portsmouth 28/29 July 1937)
Itinerary of 1st Commission

Accounts of 1st Commission Cruise

GRIPPO
The whole of the First Commission is recorded in a book called "Grippo" - The Voyage of Ajax 1935~37 A Record of the First Commission of H.M.S. Ajax, April 1935 - August 1937, on the Mediterranean and America and West Indies Stations.
Grippo was a shibboleth (password) of the Ajax and refers to getting a free meal or similar ashore.
The book was actually published before the cruise was completed and is therefore incorrect in some aspects at the end: on 14th June 1937 Ajax diverted to the Port of Spain Trinidad to assist in riots and remained for 4 weeks and departed directly for Portsmouth on 14th July 1937 arriving 28th July 1937 - her schedule therefore differs to that recorded in the book. See Memoirs of Joseph H. B. Collis below.
Extract Memoirs Joseph H. B. Collis Ist Commission